World War II Honoree

Charles Keith Neal

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Indianapolis, Indiana

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Seaman Second Class. He was inducted into the United States Navy January 8, 1941 at Kansas City, Missouri, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Served aboard the USS Indianapolis Heavy Cruiser CA-35, in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations. After delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to the U.S. Air Base on the island of Tinian, the Cruiser along with her shipmates departed for the Philippine Islands. Reported missing in action, lost at sea when the warship was hit by two torpedoes from an Imperial Japanese submarine Monday, July 30, 1945, sinking in twelve minutes. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the American Cemetery at Fort William-McKinley in Manila, Philippine Islands. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.